Friend or foe
by simbagf
Summary: Her brother was her rock and now she was without him, unaware of his death, unaware of how his death occurred. So when Sophie Walsh stumbles across the prison at the worst possible time of the groups life how will she be welcomed when they find out who she is, and who will be first to crack about Shane's death. OC
1. Chapter 1

**So, what seems like a controversial opinion, Shane Walsh was my all time favourite character on The Walking Dead and I felt like I needed to write a fanfic and bring him alive, well not so much alive but you'll see. So read, review and let me know what you think. The first chapter is just introducing my character.**

**Therefore I owe nothing of The Walking Dead, I mean it would be nice wouldn't it but I don't. However I do owe my character Sophie and that is all. This will probably follow the majority of The Walking Dead stories but some ideas will come my own imagination so enjoy. **

* * *

Sophie always remembered her childhood, she wasn't like other girls. She didn't play with dolls or dress up like a princess or help her mother bake at the weekends. Sophie played in the dirt, she made dens in her yard and mostly, she played cops and robbers with her brother, morning until the sun went down.

As a teenager she remembered her big brother would always keep an eye on her when they were at school. He'd spot her at dinner and keep her company as she sat alone. He'd stop the bullies who picked on her as she read through the books in the library so she could ace her exams and when she got her heart broken by Aaron Smith and whilst she sat at home in tears, he'd be out teaching Aaron Smith a lesson.

The night she was stood up on a date and he cancelled his plans and sat with his sister on the water's edge watching the fireworks. The day she found out her puppy had been taken and he went out and brought her a new one. But mostly the day she was left at the alter and instead of him running off to find the bastard who had broken his little sister's heart, he stayed with her and instead called out the entire Atlanta Police force to find the guy. To Sophie, her brother was her rock, her world and she will forever remember seeing his face when she got to the hospital that day. He was a good couple of inches taller than her and weighed much more then what she could handle but when she cradled him in that hospital corridor, she didn't care he was covered in blood, or crying or the stares they were getting. All she cared about was she was with him when he needed her the most, just like he'd been there for her. It was her turn now.

And as Sophie opened her eyes and stared up at the Georgian sun she could only wish to be back at the hospital because she'd of never let him go, she would have never have left him because that would mean she could have still been with him today. The end of the world and now that she was alone, she wished, prayed and hoped Shane was still out there, alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two! I know, right away but I wrote this directly after I had finished the first part and felt like I should post it to get the story going. **

**The chapters starting right after Season 3 The Killer Within (basically one of the saddest episodes ever) and Sophie finds the group, sort of.**

**Once again read, review and enjoy. And I don't owe anything of The Walking Dead just Sophie Walsh.**

* * *

The end of the world hadn't treated her very well, the day the dead started rising she was on her way to her parents. It was nearly the holidays and she wanted to get home and spend time with Shane before work got busy for him. Rick was still in the hospital, still in his coma. She knew how hard it was for Shane, he'd been with Rick when he was shot, he said it was a car chase gone wrong, he was positive all the suspects had been taken down and he regretted turning his back as the bullet tore through Rick's shoulder. They'd been like brothers ever since Rick joined Atlanta Police, he was placed under Shane's watch but over the years you'd of never thought they'd just met on the job, they looked like they'd known each other for years. They were more like brothers to each other and Rick treated Sophie like his sister too.

She'd been walking the train tracks for hours; she came across them as she stumbled through the trees. They seemed to go on forever so a break onto the tracks was a nice change. She decided to walk them until she came to a station, she was starving there must be somewhere to get food from there. She could still hear the snarls of the walkers even though she couldn't see them, she couldn't tell if the noises were real or if she'd just heard them so often they were stuck in her head. Either way she kept one hand on her gun and the other on her left thigh trying to keep pressure on her wound. She'd been shot by a stray bullet, to Sophie it was funny, well not at the time but the more she thought about it she found it funny how out of all things she was shot by a stray bullet, not bit, not stabbed not even shot on purpose. It'd been from the last group she'd been with, she'd woken to chaos as the camp was being overrun, it wasn't the first time this had happened so instead of staying and helping she just tried to save herself and ran, running through the cross fire and shot in the left leg, she hadn't even noticed until a couple of hours later when the adrenaline wore off and she felt the warm sensation of blood running down her leg. She tore of the bottom of her shirt and tied it round the outside of her pants to try and stop the bleeding but it didn't work, the bullet was still in there. She tried to dig it out with her knife a couple of times but even when biting down on a stick she couldn't get the damn thing out so she just hoped it'd heal itself over the bullet.

Sophie came to an opening on the train tracks where the view in front of her cleared and in front of her in the distance stood a collapsed building and for once there were no walkers roaming around. Debating whether to keep on down the tracks or venture down the hill towards the structure the sound of groans behind her caused her to stumble down the slope to the road below. Once landing safely on her two feet she glanced back up to slope to check she hadn't been followed and made her way over to the crumbling building in front of her, she was obviously at the back of whatever this structure was supposed to be but the opening at the back drew her closer and before she knew it she was tripping over the bricks and rubble as she made her way inside.

She felt the rubble underneath her every so often collapse under her footing as she made her way into the darkness, she clutched her gun which slotted in the side of her pants and held her breath, every noise she made seem to echo and make it a hundred times louder. Eventually there was light at the end of the tunnel and Sophie found herself in a small courtyard surrounded by wired fencing. She glanced to her left and right which both opened up to a much bigger courtyard; she still couldn't explain where she was. In front of her a large metal door stood ajar and Sophie gave it a sudden jolt making it open, scraping across the floor, drawing her gun as she was positive the noise would draw any walkers nearby.

* * *

'You know, it wasn't your fault' Glenn fiddled with Maggie's hand as they stood in the tunnels 'Lori, the baby, it was going to be or the other in that situation. We didn't prepare to be over run and you did your best, there was nothing else you could have done. Maggie please, don't close down on me.'

'I won't' Maggie wiped her nose on the back of her arm and straightened herself up 'I just, Carl he shot his own mum, I wasn't prepared, I had to cut her open and I was so scared' Maggie reached out and threw her arms around Glenn.

They began walking the tunnels when they heard the high pitch noise of metal being dragged on the concrete echo from down the way. Maggie grabbed her machete and Glenn drew his gun as they hesitantly made their way towards the noise. The tunnels were one of the first they cleared which meant any walkers that were now here had come in through an opening they hadn't found yet. They stood at the corner of one of the tunnels and Glenn carefully peered around the corner, the light wasn't so good that end of the tunnel causing a shadow to fall near the doorway.

'You see something?' Maggie whispered

'I don't know, there's something down there I think, I just don't know wha-'

Glenn was cut off when a bullet skimmed his face and bounced off the wall in front of him. They both heard the footsteps before they saw her causing Maggie to throw out her arm clotheslining the thing that ran at them. They heard the thud of something hitting the floor as Glenn finally drew his torch. Shining it down on the floor they saw her, out cold, blood trickling from her nose from where Maggie had hit her.

'Where did she come from?' Maggie bent down to examine her victim

'I don't know but we don't need this right now' Glenn scooped the girl up and slung her over his shoulder 'we'll stick her in a cell until she wakes up, go get Daryl and your dad.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three guys, hope you enjoy. I am trying to get through the rest of season 3 quick to get to season 4 I just didnt think I could start in season 4 and still have Shane as much as an issue as he could have been in season 3. Keep feed-backing to me guys, ideas, anything you don't like, constructive criticism. This is my first one, I wanna know I'm doing it right**

**Once again, owe nothing of The Walking Dead. Just Sophie**

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The throbbing in the back of her head woke Sophie up as her eyes slowly flickered open. She felt the cold ground below and took in the grey walls that surrounded her, where was she? She reached down for her gun to find slot in her pants empty, the noise of the metal door she walked through earlier echoed in her head and she remembered the sound of her footsteps. She heard other footsteps and other sounds, she knew something was there but she didn't know what, so she fired her gun, she guessed and the bullet bounced off the wall. Something hit her, from the front, from behind, she couldn't remember but everything hurt.

She groaned as she rolled over and found that she was on the floor, why was she on the floor when there was a bed next to her? She rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself onto her knees where she found herself facing the back of whatever room she was in. she took in the sink on the wall, next to that a toilet and next to that a small wooden stool and then there was the bed, bunk beds. Then it clicked, it was a prison cell. The yard she walked through was a prison yard; she'd broken into a prison. Sophie chuckled to herself at the thought and pulled herself onto her feet. Turned around she found the cell door shut tightly, wriggling the handle she found it locked, of course it was why would whoever put her in this cell let her roam free. Checking what else they had taken off her she noticed the bulge under her pants at her thigh, rolling her pant leg up she found a bandage wrapped round her wound, it was clean, her leg wasn't covered in dried blood.

'Finally'

Sophie looked up to be met with a rugged male, with a crossbow slung over his shoulder. His blue eyes seem to pierce through her and his hair was a dirty blonde, or was it brown, whichever it was, Sophie thought, it was in dire need of a cut.

'What?' Sophie snapped back

'You been out hours, we wanna talk.'

'Talk then, I aint going anywhere'

'Out here' Daryl pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the cell door.

'You sure I aint gonna bite you all or summit'

'You as much as breathe out of rhythm and I'll fire an arrow into you'

Sophie sarcastically saluted the guy as she limped out of the cell, down the cell block and into a separate room where she found a group of people sat around a table.

* * *

All eyes were on her as she sat herself on a step with everyone else sat around the table situated in the centre of the room, except for Daryl who leant against a column at the back of the room as he bit on the skin around his nails.

'Aren't you supposed to be questioning me?' Sophie clapped her hands together as the room sat in silence

'Where did you come from?' Glenn spoke first 'why were you walking round the prison?'

'I came from the forest back that way' Sophie pointed behind her 'or it might be that way' she pointed in the opposite direction 'I don't even know where I am right now and I was walking the prison because you do know the back of this place is in ruins, I just walked in then that door was ajar so I made my way through, I didn't expect to be wacked in the face and slung in a cell.'

Maggie glared at Glenn from the corner of her eyes and then back at Sophie 'what's your name?'

'Sophie.'

The group once again sat in silence.

'Where's your group?' Daryl pushed himself up from where he was lent and walked over.

'Dead, if not then the ones who survived are walking around in circles just like I was. Look if you're worried that I have a group of people waiting for my signal to take this place over then don't worry, I don't. I'm on my own because every time I found a group they were all stupid and got themselves killed. Hence why I don't plan to stick around and if this welcome is anything to go by then you don't want me here neither.'

Hershel stood up from the table, collected his crutches and hobbled over to Sophie, he stretched out his hand as Sophie stared at him 'Hershel Greene, my daughter here is Maggie and I have another daughter Beth, she's with the baby.'

'You have a baby?'

If on cue Beth walked through with a baby in her arms 'daddy, she won't stop crying.'

Sophie jumped up from the steps and walked over to Beth 'you need to swaddle the baby, here let me...'

Daryl put himself in between Sophie and Beth 'what did I say?'

Sophie back down and turned back to where she was sat 'look, I just wanna see whoevers in charge.'

'Not now' Hershel replied

'Fine, I'll be on my way then' Sophie stood up 'I'll need my gun.'

'Sophie?'

She recognised that voice, she knew it and spinning to her left to the cell blocks that's where she saw him. He was taller then what she remembers, but she recognised the brown hair, sat under the Sheriffs hat, longer then the last time she saw him and the freckles that covered his cheeks and his nose.

'Carl?' Everyone watched as he dropped the set of prison keys he held and ran over to Sophie who picked him up and hugged him tight. The group looked at each other questioning how these two people knew each other. Sophie released her grip and pushed him backwards, knelt down so she could see his face; she wiped her fingers down his face as if she was checking him, checking he was real. 'What are you doing here?'

'Mom…' Carl began to cry and wrapped his arms around Sophie again. As he clutched her tightly Sophie looked up at the group wanting answers.

'Where's your dad Carl?'

'With mom' Carl sobbed.

'Where's Shane?' Sophie could feel Carl's grip loosen around her and he stumbled backwards and looked at Sophie 'Carl?'

'Wait how do you know Shane?' Glenn asked as he stood up from the bench.

Daryl made his way over 'He asked you a question, how do you know Shane?'

Sophie felt as if a thousand eyes were on her 'he, Shane he's my brother.'


	4. Chapter 4

Sophie followed Hershel and Daryl as they led her through the tunnels at the back of the prison, she still hadn't been given her gun back so she was relying on the two men to have her back if any walkers were lurking. Sophie found herself stepping over slayed walker bodies and piles of guts as they got further and further into the prison.

'What happened?' Her words barely made a sound

'We were overrun; we split up, lost three of our own.' Hershel replied as he kept his focus on where they were heading.

'I'm sorry'

'Don't be' Daryl snapped back at her, she watched as he clutched onto his crossbow which was pointed up and straight ahead of them

They suddenly stopped outside a solid iron door halfway down a tunnel, Sophie stopped and watched as Daryl pulled it open and she followed Hershel inside. He lent against a wall where the steps went down further into the boiler room.

'I came in earlier and he's talking on the phone, go in there slowly. He may think you're not real; he's in a state of shock. He's hearing things.'

Sophie swallowed the lump in her throat as she nodded and made her way down the steps, she heard the sound of Hershel's crutches disappear and the door was shut behind her.

She went down the steps one at a time trying not to make much noise; she could hear someone talking in the back of the room. The sounds were muffled as if the person didn't want anyone else to hear, to be honest she didn't know if she was going to see Rick when she walked round the corner, she couldn't picture him, which was the sad thing because from day one, she was petrified she'd forget Shane's face. She got to just before the corner into the room and stopped herself; taking a deep breath she brushed back her hair and then continued into the boiler room.

She saw him, from the back but she could tell it was Rick. His back was turned away from her and he had one arm lent on the table and the other holding a receiver to his ear.

'I loved you, I love you. Lori?' Sophie heard Rick whisper into the phone before pulling it away from his ear and threw it against the table 'NO, NO NO NO.' he dragged the entire phone onto the floor and kicked the chair away that he was perched on before. That's when he saw her, grabbing his gun he pointed it towards Sophie and walked towards her, bringing the gun closer to her face 'was that you on the phone?'

Sophie looked at him confused 'Rick?'

'Who are you, did you ring me, are you here for our group. Your group, we can work together with you?'

Sophie could feel the tears well up in her eyes, Rick was like a brother to her and he didn't even recognise her. She stared at his face, it had become overgrown with facial hair and his hair had grown longer. Blood covered his face and when she looked into his eyes he looked lost, this wasn't the Rick she knew.

'Rick, it's me. You know who I am' Sophie put her hand on Ricks arm and he flinched away from her 'Rick, who am I!' she didn't want to say her own name; she needed Rick to come back to reality, to remember things.

'I…I…I don't know' Rick stuttered as he lowered his gun 'but you're gonna save us?'

'No' a tear fell down her cheek 'Rick I can't save the group, but I can help you.' She moved closer to him and did the exact same thing she did to Carl, putting her hands on his face, his beard scratched her hands as she tried to rub away the blood which was slowly drying on his face 'Rick you know who I am, say my name.'

She waited as he studied her, he stared into her eyes and she watched as the realisation flooded over his face 'Sophie?'

'Yes!' Sophie couldn't hold back the tears anymore and they came spilling out 'yes Rick it's me, I'm here. I'm real, don't question that!'

Rick stumbled backwards and looked Sophie up and down 'no, you can't be here, you… no… I don't know.' He picked the phone up off the floor and held it in his hands 'I don't know what's real.'

'I'm real Rick look' she held out her hand and clasped his 'feel my hand, I'm here.' Sophie watched as a slight smile appeared on his face. He put the phone on the table and slowly walked over to her, he gave her one more look over before he put his arms around her, clung onto her tight and squeezed her. 'I'm here Rick.'

* * *

Sophie put the phone receiver down after listening to the silence for a couple of seconds then slid off the chair and onto the floor where Rick was sat leant against a pipe. She looked over at the corner of the room where a walker sat, its head blown open and its brain splattered the wall. She looked back at the Rick who was fingering his wedding ring

'You need to talk. What did you hear?'

'There was a group; they said they were in a safe place. It rang again and I picked up, but it was… she rang me.'

'Lori?'

Rick closed his eyes at the sound of her name 'I don't understand.'

'You're in shock, this, everything, it's happened so quick, Carl told me what happened, what he had to do and I think he needs his father right now. You've got a baby girl out there Rick; she can't have her mother's touch, so she needs yours instead.'

Rick gave Sophie a quizzing look 'I don't understand why you're here?'

Sophie smirked 'neither do I' she held out her hand 'take it', she nudged it further towards Rick's hand 'come on.'

He hesitantly engaged his fingers round hers 'what now?'

Pulling herself up she pull Rick after her 'we go out there and pretend nothing happened.' With a nod of agreement Rick followed Sophie as they made their way out of the boiler room; he gave the phone one last glance 'I won't tell if you don't' and with that he followed Sophie up the steps.

* * *

The two of them made their way through the prisons tunnels; they walked in silence with just their footsteps echoing. Sophie glanced at Rick every so often, she could tell how hurt he was, the pain in his eyes was there, he tried to hide it so hard but Sophie could see right through the act.

'You know, you haven't asked about Shane.'

Sophie clutched her torch tighter and motioned to the left 'we came from that direction' Sophie took the lead as Rick chased after her.

'Ask me'

Sophie flickered the torch up onto the walls to find the arrows that would lead them back into the prison 'you cleared out these tunnels pretty well, would have thought they'd be full of walkers.'

'Lost a few people because of it' Rick watched Sophie closely, she tried to avoid eye contact with him and finding her way back to the cell blocks was the only distraction she had from Rick's questions.

They finally found their way back to the doors of the cell block, Sophie turned off her torch and slotted in her pant pockets, she reached for the door knob but Rick reached out and stopped her. 'I answered your questions back there, now answer mine.'

Sophie inhaled and shut her eyes 'Shane…' she opened them and stared right back at Rick 'I know my brother is dead, you would have never of left him behind if he was alive therefore he is dead.' She pushed back Ricks hand and opened the doors, leaving Rick stood there.


End file.
